A Film Maker Should Be Able To Do Serious Cinema, Horror or Even Erotica – Sharib Raza

7 days ago

3 min read

Just like you won’t associate an Anurag Kashyap with an out-and-out commercial song-dance routine, you also won’t expect a Vikram bhatt to Make a ‘Ship Of Theseus’, nor a Karan Johar to make a horror film. Each director has his or her own niche and usually they continue to make films in the zone they are comfortable in.

Vehemently disagrees Sharib Raza whose first co-production G Kutta Se that released in June this year could easily be called ‘Arthouse’ A complex narrative about false notions of honour, love, lust and relationships, when the project was brought to him, all he wanted to know and ensure was – will it be a tale told honestly and realistically. That assured, he did not take even a second to come on board.

In sharp contrast is the second venture he has just wrapped up. Office #thebrightesthorrorfilm releasing on 15TH December is India’s first psychological horror film starring television’s romantic heartthrob Karan Sharma and Badho Bahu sweetie Nishi Singh. “What worked for me in the case of Office #thebrightesthorrorfilm was the uniqueness of the concept. The film scares you by planting the meme of ghost in your mind, not by screams, sounds and sights of huge random figures creating havoc and destruction with loud thuds”.

Next year’s Slate for Sharib is equally varied. He will be directing Mother India, a black comedy about a homeless, destitute, Dalit, old woman, at the bottom end of urban social power structures and how she uses sheer survival instinct to turn the life upside down of her tormentors from the high rise next door – a tale told with huge doses of black humour rather than a patronizing sympathy. “A film maker should be able to do serious cinema, horror or even erotica” asserts Sharib.

Another psychological horror Titled ‘Shame’ about ‘ghosts of married life’ is his immediate next directorial. He refuses to give further details though they are about to begin shooting post release of Office #thebrightesthorrorfilm. That will be followed by another black comedy ‘Main Road Par Makaan’ about marital violence and hypocrisy of an arranged Indian marriage. that he will only produces. That’s’ quite a slate for someone who just stepped out of his television career to pursue films.

“Film makers should not use a bland word like slate for their work. If at all, call it a platter. That’s at least spicier” comes the parting shot from Sharib.

Produced by Full Frame Entertainment and Vishal Digital Office #thebrightesthorrorfilm releases 15th December 2017